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To Change Habits, Try Replacement Instead

634 points by ALee 9y ago

blunte 9y ago
Here is a much more powerful proof that changing environment can help you change yourself. https://jamesclear.com/heroin-habits https://jamesclear.com/heroin-habits
- dwaltrip 9y ago
  Synopsis: 95% of U.S. soldiers addicted to heroin during the Vietnam War broke their addiction nearly overnight, when they returned home to the states. Only 5% relapsed back into addiction. Apparently, relapse rates for heroin clinics are normally around 90%. When the soldiers changed environments to a place that contained none of the stimuli-triggers for heroin usage that they had overseas, they found it far easier to quit. In typical cases, people return home from a clinic to a place that contains all of the old, familiar triggers for usage, and thus have a very difficult time quitting. These individuals return to their prior routines, like a hand fitting back into a glove. The soldiers, however, left their gloves overseas, and instead returned to the addiction-free routines they had before the war, or they developed new ones. The environment directly plays a huge role in driving behavior. By consciously changing our environment, we can reduce or eliminate factors linked to undesired behaviors, replacing with new environmental features that we can more easily associate with desired behaviors.
  - besasam 9y ago
    There was also a study done on rats that showed they would not seek out drugs when in an a nurturing and stimulating environment. Kurzgesagt have made a great video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg
  - oh_sigh 9y ago
    I wonder if tourists who get addicted carry the habit back at a different rate? Part of the reason to explain the GIs drug usage was, well, they were in a nasty war and probably knew some people who were KIA and wanted an escape.
    - dwaltrip 9y ago
      Yeah, that makes sense.I think this affect was taken to the extreme with the environment of the Vietnam war vs. civilian life in America. I imagine it would apply to tourists, just not nearly as strongly. It would be interesting to see numbers.
- abalone 9y ago
  A very good book on this is Biology of Desire by Marc Lewis. Cites the Vietnam heroin example, and gets into the neurobiology of bad habits. Key points are that addiction is neither a choice nor a disease, and self-control is a depletable resource (so being overly suppressive can lead to binges). Recovery benefits from emotional events that reframe one's relationship with the bad habit and exploring the traumatic roots of it.
sharkweek 9y ago
Thought suppression is a one-way ticket to training your brain that the thoughts you are trying to avoid are the only things you should be thinking about. Over a long enough timeline, it wires your brain, the giant "what if" machine, that it should be worried about whatever it is that's popping into your head and making you feel so resistant.
- eclat 9y ago
  Which can lead to obsessive-compulsive disorder.
newscracker 9y ago
That was a lot shorter than I expected for a self-help piece. There are so many such pieces, books, videos, groups and online courses on forming new habits and motivation, but there’s still a huge market to be developing content in this space. We humans seem to be fundamentally built for laziness and habits, which could many a times be to our own detriment.
- bornonline1 9y ago
  I would swap 'laziness' to rest. We think we need to do a lot of things purely because we tell ourselves that, or we put ourselves in expensive environments.
psergeant 9y ago
I’ve found committing a large chunk of money, in front of friends, to causes I detest it I don’t hit my goals, to be like a magic wand for this stuff. UKIP haven’t yet received £1,500 from me, and each week I’ve been tremendously productive and done everything I set out to with that as a threat
- robot1 9y ago
  Beeminder comes to mind when thinking about losing money when you don't hit your goals (goes to the company). I've been too afraid to try since I'm a student with loans, but maybe it's time.
  - dreeves 9y ago
    Thanks for the plug! In theory being poor just makes Beeminder all the more effective. :) You can cap the amount at risk at $5 and have it be plenty motivating to stay on track. Actually the first derailment is $0 so if you're extra poor then you'll be very motivated to not derail even once, in order to prevent having to ever risk actual money. And it can't hurt to try because if you do derail with the initial $0 at stake you'll have a chance to abort before there's any danger of losing your first $5.
- loblollyboy 9y ago
  That’s cool and all, but doesn’t really work if you’re trying to, say, stop being anxious on public transit.
  - mirimir 9y ago
    It's arguably impossible to "stop being anxious". I mean, the harder one tries, the more anxiety. But it is possible to redirect, even in public. Perhaps adopt a centered stance. Or do something else that's unobtrusive and nonthreatening. Maybe even smile.
    - goldenkey 9y ago
      It is possible via behavioral therapy. Most social anxiety stems from a lack of previous success in social situations. Once you realize that people don't bite, you stop giving a shit. The public is mostly oblivious and distracted. If you think you are getting attention its far more likely that no one cares. Source: introvert who isn't scared of the mopey public anymore
namuol 9y ago
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and if you are suffering emotionally/mentally please seek professional help. ---- My anecdote: I used to frequently suffer from (undiagnosed) anxiety and depression. For about a year, I would respond to sudden anxiety by seeking comfort in various forms of isolation/depressed behavior (watch TV as a distraction, try to take a "nap", etc.). The most insidious thing about this was how it seemed to happen so quickly that it was practically subconscious. Days would disappear. It took me about a year to recognize this pattern, but eventually I learned to catch myself whenever I was seeking this form of comfort, and instead chose to do one session of push-ups, instead (when possible). This worked really well for me for two reasons: 1. It caused me to stop myself short of falling into any kind of depressive spiral -- physical exertion is a great distraction! 2. Needless to say, I did a LOT of push ups, which are a great form of full-body exercise. The benefits are well known. These days, I don't need the push-ups as a distraction; most of the "bad habits" I used to have don't appear nearly as much (although I still need to exercise regularly to avoid depression).
- iancmceachern 9y ago
  Me too, only with running. It's a great way to force yourself to take time for meditation, reflection and processing the days events. For me it's my time, time in which clients, other folks in my life are set aside and I can think for myself. Plus it's a way to progress, have something to be proud if even if client work, or other aspects of life aren't.
  - jrowley 9y ago
    If you don’t mind me asking, how often do you feel you need to run?
    - bernardino 9y ago
      I feel I need to run every week day at 8 in the morning at my local community college’s “life fitness center” - highly recommend anyone check out their local community college’s fitness centers if you aren’t keen on normal gyms, they are usually not crowded plus they are filled with students and elderly people. Some days I vary my running, either long distance with a steady space or high intesisty interval training. I then do some light weight lifting and jumping jacks, planks, push-ups, and sit-ups. Extensively, if I stop exercising for a two week period (which I currently am in the middle of), I’m more prone to become melancholy, sleep in till the afternoon, compare myself to others to a greater extent, have no interest in dating, have no hope for the future, etc. But other factors also play a role in my well-being plus exercising every morning in the weekday, i.e. sleeping well, making my bed, grooming, dressing nicely, eating fruits and vegetables, drinking only water and lots unless it’s a special occasion, being outdoors (in the sun if possible) as much as I can, having my things be clean and organized, etc.
jtraffic 9y ago
Thoughts and habits are related, but they aren't the same. Interesting counterpoint to the replacement theory of kicking bad habits: https://www.nirandfar.com/2015/04/bad-habits.html https://www.nirandfar.com/2015/04/bad-habits.html
pyxelr 9y ago
I can profoundly relate to it myself as by moving alone for studies to a university in a completely different country, a lot of things changed in my life. It is not only that you replace many of the troublesome habits, but also you are making yourself busy familiarising with a new environment. It is like with every other change, which causes us to go out from the comfort zone, however, in the end, we are satisfied with the changes we agreed to.
evanmarshall 9y ago
I think attacking one problem at a time is the best way to go about (at least for me). I noticed that many people try to make drastic changes all at once and then fail at all of them. I'd recommend trying one thing and just doing that one thing above all else. IE, don't try to exercise and diet at the same time. Pick one and when you've firmly established the habit, start the next change.
- scarface74 9y ago
  I agree completely. I spent years as a fitness instructor and worked out regularly. Life happened, I stopped teaching and working out consistently for five years and everything went south, weight, blood pressure, strength, cardio, cholesterol, etc. I tried to "turn things around" and failed. First step first 6 months - I cut back on fried foods, salty foods, burgers, and sweets and kept a sane calorie budget. Along with medication that brought my high blood pressure down from a walking heart attack level to elevated but still didn't do much for my cholesterol or weight (5 pound weight loss). Second Step 3 months and counting - It was a simple matter of increasing my exercise regimen from non existent to a relative intense resistance based regimen that's now up to around 2 hours four times a week. I've lost about 10 pounds but I've probably platued. The third step is going to be the hardest for me, cut back on meat and start eating more vegetables and fruit and cut out non diet sodas (yeah I know about the studies with diet sodas.) Goal is about another 10 pounds of weight loss.
  - Joboman555 9y ago
    Cutting out meat is not significantly associated with weight loss. Cutting out simple carbohydrates, especially sugar, is.
    - scarface74 9y ago
      True. Cutting out meat was a red herring. I need to eat more vegetables and fruits. Honestly, my biggest concern is not losing weight at this point just being healthier.
tmuir 9y ago
There was an author named Allen Carr, an Englishman, I believe, who wrote a book called The EasyWay to Quit Smoking. I can attest to the relative ease his method provides, over quitting cold turkey. Essentially, he uses tools of psychology to reinforce his points, such as spaced repetition, but he also dissects the psychology at play inside the smoker's mind. He frames nicotene addiction as a state of brainwashing, and enumerates all sorts of behavior as examples. When smokers begin, usually as teenagers, there is a lot wrapped up in, or at least was 20 years ago, the coolness of it. This is precisely why you see actors and actresses smoking cigarettes with exotic technique of holding the cigarette, or generally looking intriguing, it is an extremely effective heuristic. Everyone who smokes their first cigarette obviously has immediate negative physical effects. They cough, it burns the throat, they get nauseous, or just a plain nicotene buzz, etc. Yet since they know that cigarettes are so cool, or otherwise lent social proof, all of this is rationalized and minimized, in the goal of validation of your peers. A lot of the other information contrasts nonsmokers behavior to also shatter these illusions. Smokers lie to themselves that the cigarettes are what is keeping them together. But nonsmokers don't seem in the aggregate less confident, or less healthy, or less mentally stable, or any of these lies we tell ourselves. That means that controlling for the cigarettes reveals them to be the causal factor. One of the low level rationalizations daily smokers make on an hourly basis or so, is that they are ready for that next cigarette. It is time. To the extent that they can't close that loop, this is where the _true_ stress from nicotene addiction happens. They've essentially built up experience of a heuristic for long enough, of the feeling coming, the smoking, and the feeling going away. In the smokers mind, actually smoking the cigarette is what curbs the craving, thus, the smoking is necessary. There are a myriad other rationalizations made, all in the name of not having to go through what we assume will be a hellacious withdrawal, because we wont be able to stop thinking about it. But thats only because we trust this faulty heuristic that says stress -> smoke -> no stress. The book simply goes through all of these rationalized fallacies, as the author smoked for 33 years, and used them all himself. The process of reading all of this information in short succession, in addition to some of the coping mechanisms that are essentially more tricks of the mind, or ways to frame the thoughts that inevitably arise when a smoker quits, I believe has sort of a triggering effect, not unlike juicy gossip and the 24 hour news cycle. However, the reader is triggered to parry each nagging thought with the context in which it is a fallacy. If this can be successfully done, the normal feelings of dreading the withdrawal can be replaced with almost a sadism for the part of your mind that is receding in its influence, abstracting the sum of this brainwashing to a monster in your mind. He is the one who wants the nicotene, he is the one freaking out, not me. I'm breathing deeply, and smelling food again. I think I understand a lot of the general underpinnings, but I have yet to find the EasyWay to do anything else. I still contend at least part of the answer lies in this psychological realm, if not almost all of it.
btrettel 9y ago
The linked article seems to suggest that you can replace bad habits with arbitrary other habits. Maybe that's true, but I think it's best to change your situation so that the right choice is the easiest to make. I've discussed this in the context of transportation cycling at HN in the past: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16515129 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16515129 > As a transportation cyclist, some people I know think I must have superhuman willpower. But the reality is that I don't own a car, don't like the bus, and live too far away for walking regularly to be practical. I structured my life so that cycling is the most convenient option. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16450267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16450267 > No excuses are valid. Don't feel like it? Doesn't matter. I don't want to ride most mornings. Cold weather or rain? Too bad, no choice still. Sick? Take a day off for your health. > I am no more successful at maintaining other exercise in my life. I used to run more regularly, but I haven't had the time for a while. So I understand how difficult maintaining an exercise habit is. That's why I leave nothing to chance.
- grimgrin 9y ago
  Well you do have a choice when it’s raining. You could take the bus. I guess you don’t like the bus, but you do have a choice!
  - btrettel 9y ago
    You're correct, I didn't choose the right word. I usually will wait for the rain to stop, but I also do ride in the rain. I prefer most rain to the bus. I have chosen the bus a few times over cycling over the past 5 years, but only when the rain was particularly bad.
  - newfoundglory 9y ago
    In my case, taking the bus is a good 15-20 minutes slower than biking, so by the time I'm looking at rain and having second thoughts, I'm usually too late to catch a bus and be at work on time. Very effective!
- fro0116 9y ago
  > I think it's best to change your situation so that the right choice is the easiest to make. Lowering the activation energy required to do cardio by getting my own treadmill in the living room really helped me get into the habit of doing cardio more regularly. Now instead of paying every month for a gym membership I rarely used, I end up doing a good 3-4 hours of light cardio every week, opportunistically, because it's so easy to get started, and I can play music and watch shows while exercising without worrying about disturbing others, making it a much more enjoyable experience overall.
gboudrias 9y ago
Psych major here, every behaviorist (and psych major) knows this. Ironic that they feel the need to quote Carl Jung for a totally banal effect of learning: Doing nothing is harder than doing something else.
- rhizome 9y ago
  Doing nothing is harder than doing something else. Interesting concept, do you have any links or cites for more info?
  - bornonline1 9y ago
    Have you tried doing nothing?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
baxtr 9y ago
I’ve been able to reduce my time on news websites dramatically by developing the habit of opening the kindle app instead. Now I (mostly) continue to read my books instead of reading nonsense.
- saintPirelli 9y ago
  I do the same thing (with physical copies, I don't have a kindle). It's amazing how much more knowledge you can gather by just doing that one thing. Plus the delayed gratification when you look at a pile of books and think to yourself: "Wow, I read all that?"
  - StapleHorse 9y ago
    For the gratification with raaded ebooks I use www.goodreads.com I even put there audiobooks there, which really go well with treadmill exercising. I love listening to books at 135BPM (walking fast with 5% gradient)
    - Nannooskeeska 9y ago
      I'm with you on Goodreads. I absolutely love the yearly challenges and how easy they make it to track.
danielrk 9y ago
I bit my nails unconsciously for 15 years. Constantly bleeding and got to the point where my thumbnails were gone and I thought they wouldn’t ever grow back. I got braces for my teeth, the biting immediately stopped, and my nails grew back to perfect condition in a few months. In dealing with the discomfort of braces, I developed a habit of pushing my tongue against my teeth which completely replaced my nail biting habit. (To be clear, the braces per se didn’t deter me from biting.) I do this all the time now unconsciously. Fortunately it’s imperceptible and doesn’t do any harm.
- Farstrider 9y ago
  I bit my nails for about 18 years, was not until I saw someone with horrible nails that I decided I needed to stop. I replaced it with taking care of my nails and now I file them more than most people to keep them in great shape and to avoid biting.
  - StavrosK 9y ago
    I'm the same way, if they get past a certain length, I start biting because they compulsively annoy me.
    - piyh 9y ago
      I put a little swiss army knife on my keys and having the scissors on me at all times fixed that for me.
fyfy18 9y ago
Has anyone got any tips for how to stop biting nails? This technique sounds like it would work for some habits, but I do this subconciously without realising - usually when I’m deep in though on something else (not when I’m streased).
- cnees 9y ago
  Someone I know switched to only biting one nail. I switched to biting more gently, not actually biting through the nails. Keeping your nails clean and trimmed may help.
- stenl 9y ago
  There is a thing you can buy at the pharmacy that looks like transparent nail polish but tastes extremely bitter. Basically makes it disgusting to bite your nails, but is invisible to others. Hard to get off too, so you’ll get a few days bite-free from one application.
- ClassyJacket 9y ago
  If anyone could help me stop scratching my face, scalp, and arms until I bleed I would be forever grateful. The effect on my life is profound.
  - jacobush 9y ago
    Scratch something is else till it "bleeds"? Get something scratch-y. Or as the other here suggested, decide you can scratch only your arms and scalp but not the face and go from there.
  - pps 9y ago
    I think that NLP sucks overall, it's mostly a marketing tool and sometimes worse, but there are things supported by science and some techniques for quick interventions are integrated into psychotherapy ("NLPt psychotherapy" if you want to check it). The most down to earth book which you can use to help yourself in this case is "Change Your Mind and Keep The Change" by Steve Andreas. Good luck!
- 9y ago
SwellJoe 9y ago
When training animals, particularly dogs, it's (I think) pretty well-known that redirecting to positive behaviors is much more effective than punishing unwanted behaviors (so much so that one could say "punishment does not work at all compared to redirecting to desired behaviors" without much exaggeration). i.e. when a dog chews on a sofa cushion, put a dog chew in their mouth or direct them to go get their toy or chew or whatever. When they jump up on people, put them in a sit-stay, then you can praise them for doing a good thing. This is just a human, self-directed, version of that, I think. I'm not saying people are like dogs, but...people are kinda like dogs.
- jacobush 9y ago
  We sort of have dogs within. We are super sets of dogs. Edit: it must follow we are rather cute within. Dogs are cute!
- Ours90 9y ago
  I do agree with your statement, but it's the idealistic approach and sometimes not effective at all. A big problem with the dogs (as observed in humans, too) is that if they don't see a leader in you, they are going to take this position over. I've had 4 dogs in my lifetime and I've tried different approaches with all of them, because they all had different characters, but one thing I did with all of them: I was strict and I punished them at times. They are like babies, I don't think you can raise a child without punishing him from time to time; if you don't do so, there can be much more complications which maybe harmful for both parties.
  - WhompingWindows 9y ago
    How do you define "punishment" for dog training? In the psychological sense, punishment is going to mean either denial of a positive thing (treats, toys, etc) or use of a negative thing (scolding, physical methods like spraying water or citronella, poking (dog whisperer's method) or straight up violence). To me, this is not the way to train a dog. You can still be a leader by providing their food at set times, by giving them play time and ample walks, and by truly mastering yourself so you do not unnecessarily use physical or verbal abuse on them. To me, I've never had to punish my dogs, all I'll do is say "No" in a particular tone of voice. Other than that, I just reinforce the good behaviors, allow them wiggle-room for breed-specific behaviors, and make sure they have plenty of exercise and a good diet.
YTGRK 9y ago
https://youtu.be/I2l8xkjTUh4 https://youtu.be/I2l8xkjTUh4
billysielu 9y ago
Please replace this link to the New York Times with something without a Paywall.
- scarface74 9y ago
  On iOS, I just have any NYT site to default to reader view.
- m-watson 9y ago
  Just open it in private/incognito browser, free and less tracking!
gymshoes 9y ago
I read quickly and didn't think of a white bear. Probably because my focus was to quickly read the article.
k__ 9y ago
Somehow these "try not to think of" memes don't work on me. I'm a slow reader and the "white bear" is still "words" in my mind when I'm finished, I have no image in my head till I try to get one actively.
hiccuphippo 9y ago
The old switcheroo. When I have one song stuck in my head and I want it out, I just start listening to another song.
chrisweekly 9y ago
About 6 years ago I read this terrific book, "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" [1]... Highly recommended! [1] https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0055PGUYU/ https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0055PGUYU/
- segmondy 9y ago
  I just finished reading this last week. I highly recommend as well. Key take away, understand the habit loop, (cue, response, reward). To change your habit you need to know what the cue is, and watch out for it. When it happens, you need to replace the habit with a difference response that gives the reward. Part of figuring out your cue is looking at People around you, Emotional State, Location, Time, Immediately Preceding Action.
  - dmos62 9y ago
    If anyone finds this train of thought interesting, look at literature around Neuro-linguistic programming [0]. As pointed out in the Wikipedia article, this body of work is heavily criticized, and I'll address that, because I think that NLP shouldn't be discarded. The methodicality of the approach outlined in the above comment is somewhat of a central theme in most of NLP, that's what reminded me of NLP. For the purpose of this discussion, I'd sum up NLP as a deep, broad and interesting exploration of the key-take-away from the above comment, that is the trigger-response-reward loop. It's true that there's a lot to criticize in NLP. What stuck out to me especially was the monetization by R. Bandler and his manner of conversing that is somewhere between being excessively boastful and compulsively lying. However, the Wikipedia article says that the body of work that is NLP was discredited scientifically, which I find preposterous. I can easily see some practice advocated by a notable NLP practicioner being discredited, but not the whole, because it is too far-reaching. The area covered by NLP makes it pretty much an umbrella keyword for many, many areas of activity of a handful of people. The most controversial of which is probably their revival, reinterpretation and I'd dare say furthering of our understanding of hypnosis, but that's just one thing, and one that I don't find to be their most important contribution. The basic NLP keywords relevant to this discussion are triggers, mental mapping, anchoring, Meta Model, and then a small host of more advanced concepts that use these building blocks. Their work on the vaguelly named "meta model" alone should be deemed an important contribution, while being minor compared to their work on behavioral therapy. I can't recommend individual books, since I've sprinted through a bunch of them some years back, their quality somewhat varied, and I had to read some of them to find out that they are repackaged older material, but there are definitely gems out there. The principal authors in the field are John Grinder and Richard Bandler. I would stay away from post-2000 books by Bandler, if I recall correctly. I seem to have found them over-monetizing and a bit distasteful. Bandler also has a lot of video content out there, which again is often distasteful in my opinion. To sum up on a positive note, I find the literature and work around NLP to be a diamond in the rough, emphasis on diamond. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming
eclat 9y ago
Replacement can also become a compulsion however. If you get a negative thought you want to stop having, replacing it with another will only make that negative thought more important to your mind, as it will be considered something to be avoided. I recommend doing CBT instead of following the advice of NYT articles.
akashaggarwal7 9y ago
Very nice article. So, how do I stop procrastinating?
Mikho 9y ago
That's really just basic habit loop -- trigger-action-reward -- that one needs to break by replacing action part with something different more useful. Pretty quickly one gets used to a new habit loop structure and the same old trigger now ignites some healthy action to receive the same old reward. E.g. teeth-brushing habit: trigger - wake up, action - brush teeth, reward - freshness mint (or other) taste in your mouth. That's basically why a taste was added at all to a toothpaste -- to create a habit loop. Before that teeth-brushing powder/paste was tasteless and resulted in bad sales. The same habit loop structure is used a lot to change bad habits or to integrate new habits in sports, military, etc. There is a very good book about it by Charles Duhigg: "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" https://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business/dp/081298160X https://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business/dp/081...
jamaicahest 9y ago
Reminds we of https://www.npr.org/2012/02/27/147296743/how-you-can-harness-the-power-of-habit https://www.npr.org/2012/02/27/147296743/how-you-can-harness...

634 points by ALee 9y ago

Here is a much more powerful proof that changing environment can help you change yourself. https://jamesclear.com/heroin-habits https://jamesclear.com/heroin-habits

dwaltrip 9y ago
Synopsis: 95% of U.S. soldiers addicted to heroin during the Vietnam War broke their addiction nearly overnight, when they returned home to the states. Only 5% relapsed back into addiction. Apparently, relapse rates for heroin clinics are normally around 90%. When the soldiers changed environments to a place that contained none of the stimuli-triggers for heroin usage that they had overseas, they found it far easier to quit. In typical cases, people return home from a clinic to a place that contains all of the old, familiar triggers for usage, and thus have a very difficult time quitting. These individuals return to their prior routines, like a hand fitting back into a glove. The soldiers, however, left their gloves overseas, and instead returned to the addiction-free routines they had before the war, or they developed new ones. The environment directly plays a huge role in driving behavior. By consciously changing our environment, we can reduce or eliminate factors linked to undesired behaviors, replacing with new environmental features that we can more easily associate with desired behaviors.
- besasam 9y ago
  There was also a study done on rats that showed they would not seek out drugs when in an a nurturing and stimulating environment. Kurzgesagt have made a great video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg
- oh_sigh 9y ago
  I wonder if tourists who get addicted carry the habit back at a different rate? Part of the reason to explain the GIs drug usage was, well, they were in a nasty war and probably knew some people who were KIA and wanted an escape.
  - dwaltrip 9y ago
    Yeah, that makes sense.I think this affect was taken to the extreme with the environment of the Vietnam war vs. civilian life in America. I imagine it would apply to tourists, just not nearly as strongly. It would be interesting to see numbers.
abalone 9y ago
A very good book on this is Biology of Desire by Marc Lewis. Cites the Vietnam heroin example, and gets into the neurobiology of bad habits. Key points are that addiction is neither a choice nor a disease, and self-control is a depletable resource (so being overly suppressive can lead to binges). Recovery benefits from emotional events that reframe one's relationship with the bad habit and exploring the traumatic roots of it.

sharkweek 9y ago

Thought suppression is a one-way ticket to training your brain that the thoughts you are trying to avoid are the only things you should be thinking about. Over a long enough timeline, it wires your brain, the giant "what if" machine, that it should be worried about whatever it is that's popping into your head and making you feel so resistant.

eclat 9y ago
Which can lead to obsessive-compulsive disorder.

newscracker 9y ago

That was a lot shorter than I expected for a self-help piece. There are so many such pieces, books, videos, groups and online courses on forming new habits and motivation, but there’s still a huge market to be developing content in this space. We humans seem to be fundamentally built for laziness and habits, which could many a times be to our own detriment.

bornonline1 9y ago
I would swap 'laziness' to rest. We think we need to do a lot of things purely because we tell ourselves that, or we put ourselves in expensive environments.

psergeant 9y ago

I’ve found committing a large chunk of money, in front of friends, to causes I detest it I don’t hit my goals, to be like a magic wand for this stuff. UKIP haven’t yet received £1,500 from me, and each week I’ve been tremendously productive and done everything I set out to with that as a threat

robot1 9y ago
Beeminder comes to mind when thinking about losing money when you don't hit your goals (goes to the company). I've been too afraid to try since I'm a student with loans, but maybe it's time.
- dreeves 9y ago
  Thanks for the plug! In theory being poor just makes Beeminder all the more effective. :) You can cap the amount at risk at $5 and have it be plenty motivating to stay on track. Actually the first derailment is $0 so if you're extra poor then you'll be very motivated to not derail even once, in order to prevent having to ever risk actual money. And it can't hurt to try because if you do derail with the initial $0 at stake you'll have a chance to abort before there's any danger of losing your first $5.
loblollyboy 9y ago
That’s cool and all, but doesn’t really work if you’re trying to, say, stop being anxious on public transit.
- mirimir 9y ago
  It's arguably impossible to "stop being anxious". I mean, the harder one tries, the more anxiety. But it is possible to redirect, even in public. Perhaps adopt a centered stance. Or do something else that's unobtrusive and nonthreatening. Maybe even smile.
  - goldenkey 9y ago
    It is possible via behavioral therapy. Most social anxiety stems from a lack of previous success in social situations. Once you realize that people don't bite, you stop giving a shit. The public is mostly oblivious and distracted. If you think you are getting attention its far more likely that no one cares. Source: introvert who isn't scared of the mopey public anymore

namuol 9y ago

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and if you are suffering emotionally/mentally please seek professional help. ---- My anecdote: I used to frequently suffer from (undiagnosed) anxiety and depression. For about a year, I would respond to sudden anxiety by seeking comfort in various forms of isolation/depressed behavior (watch TV as a distraction, try to take a "nap", etc.). The most insidious thing about this was how it seemed to happen so quickly that it was practically subconscious. Days would disappear. It took me about a year to recognize this pattern, but eventually I learned to catch myself whenever I was seeking this form of comfort, and instead chose to do one session of push-ups, instead (when possible). This worked really well for me for two reasons: 1. It caused me to stop myself short of falling into any kind of depressive spiral -- physical exertion is a great distraction! 2. Needless to say, I did a LOT of push ups, which are a great form of full-body exercise. The benefits are well known. These days, I don't need the push-ups as a distraction; most of the "bad habits" I used to have don't appear nearly as much (although I still need to exercise regularly to avoid depression).

iancmceachern 9y ago
Me too, only with running. It's a great way to force yourself to take time for meditation, reflection and processing the days events. For me it's my time, time in which clients, other folks in my life are set aside and I can think for myself. Plus it's a way to progress, have something to be proud if even if client work, or other aspects of life aren't.
- jrowley 9y ago
  If you don’t mind me asking, how often do you feel you need to run?
  - bernardino 9y ago
    I feel I need to run every week day at 8 in the morning at my local community college’s “life fitness center” - highly recommend anyone check out their local community college’s fitness centers if you aren’t keen on normal gyms, they are usually not crowded plus they are filled with students and elderly people. Some days I vary my running, either long distance with a steady space or high intesisty interval training. I then do some light weight lifting and jumping jacks, planks, push-ups, and sit-ups. Extensively, if I stop exercising for a two week period (which I currently am in the middle of), I’m more prone to become melancholy, sleep in till the afternoon, compare myself to others to a greater extent, have no interest in dating, have no hope for the future, etc. But other factors also play a role in my well-being plus exercising every morning in the weekday, i.e. sleeping well, making my bed, grooming, dressing nicely, eating fruits and vegetables, drinking only water and lots unless it’s a special occasion, being outdoors (in the sun if possible) as much as I can, having my things be clean and organized, etc.

jtraffic 9y ago

Thoughts and habits are related, but they aren't the same. Interesting counterpoint to the replacement theory of kicking bad habits: https://www.nirandfar.com/2015/04/bad-habits.html https://www.nirandfar.com/2015/04/bad-habits.html

pyxelr 9y ago

I can profoundly relate to it myself as by moving alone for studies to a university in a completely different country, a lot of things changed in my life. It is not only that you replace many of the troublesome habits, but also you are making yourself busy familiarising with a new environment. It is like with every other change, which causes us to go out from the comfort zone, however, in the end, we are satisfied with the changes we agreed to.

evanmarshall 9y ago

I think attacking one problem at a time is the best way to go about (at least for me). I noticed that many people try to make drastic changes all at once and then fail at all of them. I'd recommend trying one thing and just doing that one thing above all else. IE, don't try to exercise and diet at the same time. Pick one and when you've firmly established the habit, start the next change.

scarface74 9y ago
I agree completely. I spent years as a fitness instructor and worked out regularly. Life happened, I stopped teaching and working out consistently for five years and everything went south, weight, blood pressure, strength, cardio, cholesterol, etc. I tried to "turn things around" and failed. First step first 6 months - I cut back on fried foods, salty foods, burgers, and sweets and kept a sane calorie budget. Along with medication that brought my high blood pressure down from a walking heart attack level to elevated but still didn't do much for my cholesterol or weight (5 pound weight loss). Second Step 3 months and counting - It was a simple matter of increasing my exercise regimen from non existent to a relative intense resistance based regimen that's now up to around 2 hours four times a week. I've lost about 10 pounds but I've probably platued. The third step is going to be the hardest for me, cut back on meat and start eating more vegetables and fruit and cut out non diet sodas (yeah I know about the studies with diet sodas.) Goal is about another 10 pounds of weight loss.
- Joboman555 9y ago
  Cutting out meat is not significantly associated with weight loss. Cutting out simple carbohydrates, especially sugar, is.
  - scarface74 9y ago
    True. Cutting out meat was a red herring. I need to eat more vegetables and fruits. Honestly, my biggest concern is not losing weight at this point just being healthier.

tmuir 9y ago

There was an author named Allen Carr, an Englishman, I believe, who wrote a book called The EasyWay to Quit Smoking. I can attest to the relative ease his method provides, over quitting cold turkey. Essentially, he uses tools of psychology to reinforce his points, such as spaced repetition, but he also dissects the psychology at play inside the smoker's mind. He frames nicotene addiction as a state of brainwashing, and enumerates all sorts of behavior as examples. When smokers begin, usually as teenagers, there is a lot wrapped up in, or at least was 20 years ago, the coolness of it. This is precisely why you see actors and actresses smoking cigarettes with exotic technique of holding the cigarette, or generally looking intriguing, it is an extremely effective heuristic. Everyone who smokes their first cigarette obviously has immediate negative physical effects. They cough, it burns the throat, they get nauseous, or just a plain nicotene buzz, etc. Yet since they know that cigarettes are so cool, or otherwise lent social proof, all of this is rationalized and minimized, in the goal of validation of your peers. A lot of the other information contrasts nonsmokers behavior to also shatter these illusions. Smokers lie to themselves that the cigarettes are what is keeping them together. But nonsmokers don't seem in the aggregate less confident, or less healthy, or less mentally stable, or any of these lies we tell ourselves. That means that controlling for the cigarettes reveals them to be the causal factor. One of the low level rationalizations daily smokers make on an hourly basis or so, is that they are ready for that next cigarette. It is time. To the extent that they can't close that loop, this is where the _true_ stress from nicotene addiction happens. They've essentially built up experience of a heuristic for long enough, of the feeling coming, the smoking, and the feeling going away. In the smokers mind, actually smoking the cigarette is what curbs the craving, thus, the smoking is necessary. There are a myriad other rationalizations made, all in the name of not having to go through what we assume will be a hellacious withdrawal, because we wont be able to stop thinking about it. But thats only because we trust this faulty heuristic that says stress -> smoke -> no stress. The book simply goes through all of these rationalized fallacies, as the author smoked for 33 years, and used them all himself. The process of reading all of this information in short succession, in addition to some of the coping mechanisms that are essentially more tricks of the mind, or ways to frame the thoughts that inevitably arise when a smoker quits, I believe has sort of a triggering effect, not unlike juicy gossip and the 24 hour news cycle. However, the reader is triggered to parry each nagging thought with the context in which it is a fallacy. If this can be successfully done, the normal feelings of dreading the withdrawal can be replaced with almost a sadism for the part of your mind that is receding in its influence, abstracting the sum of this brainwashing to a monster in your mind. He is the one who wants the nicotene, he is the one freaking out, not me. I'm breathing deeply, and smelling food again. I think I understand a lot of the general underpinnings, but I have yet to find the EasyWay to do anything else. I still contend at least part of the answer lies in this psychological realm, if not almost all of it.

btrettel 9y ago

The linked article seems to suggest that you can replace bad habits with arbitrary other habits. Maybe that's true, but I think it's best to change your situation so that the right choice is the easiest to make. I've discussed this in the context of transportation cycling at HN in the past: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16515129 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16515129 > As a transportation cyclist, some people I know think I must have superhuman willpower. But the reality is that I don't own a car, don't like the bus, and live too far away for walking regularly to be practical. I structured my life so that cycling is the most convenient option. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16450267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16450267 > No excuses are valid. Don't feel like it? Doesn't matter. I don't want to ride most mornings. Cold weather or rain? Too bad, no choice still. Sick? Take a day off for your health. > I am no more successful at maintaining other exercise in my life. I used to run more regularly, but I haven't had the time for a while. So I understand how difficult maintaining an exercise habit is. That's why I leave nothing to chance.

grimgrin 9y ago
Well you do have a choice when it’s raining. You could take the bus. I guess you don’t like the bus, but you do have a choice!
- btrettel 9y ago
  You're correct, I didn't choose the right word. I usually will wait for the rain to stop, but I also do ride in the rain. I prefer most rain to the bus. I have chosen the bus a few times over cycling over the past 5 years, but only when the rain was particularly bad.
- newfoundglory 9y ago
  In my case, taking the bus is a good 15-20 minutes slower than biking, so by the time I'm looking at rain and having second thoughts, I'm usually too late to catch a bus and be at work on time. Very effective!
fro0116 9y ago
> I think it's best to change your situation so that the right choice is the easiest to make. Lowering the activation energy required to do cardio by getting my own treadmill in the living room really helped me get into the habit of doing cardio more regularly. Now instead of paying every month for a gym membership I rarely used, I end up doing a good 3-4 hours of light cardio every week, opportunistically, because it's so easy to get started, and I can play music and watch shows while exercising without worrying about disturbing others, making it a much more enjoyable experience overall.

gboudrias 9y ago

Psych major here, every behaviorist (and psych major) knows this. Ironic that they feel the need to quote Carl Jung for a totally banal effect of learning: Doing nothing is harder than doing something else.

rhizome 9y ago
Doing nothing is harder than doing something else. Interesting concept, do you have any links or cites for more info?
- bornonline1 9y ago
  Have you tried doing nothing?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

baxtr 9y ago

I’ve been able to reduce my time on news websites dramatically by developing the habit of opening the kindle app instead. Now I (mostly) continue to read my books instead of reading nonsense.

saintPirelli 9y ago
I do the same thing (with physical copies, I don't have a kindle). It's amazing how much more knowledge you can gather by just doing that one thing. Plus the delayed gratification when you look at a pile of books and think to yourself: "Wow, I read all that?"
- StapleHorse 9y ago
  For the gratification with raaded ebooks I use www.goodreads.com I even put there audiobooks there, which really go well with treadmill exercising. I love listening to books at 135BPM (walking fast with 5% gradient)
  - Nannooskeeska 9y ago
    I'm with you on Goodreads. I absolutely love the yearly challenges and how easy they make it to track.

danielrk 9y ago

I bit my nails unconsciously for 15 years. Constantly bleeding and got to the point where my thumbnails were gone and I thought they wouldn’t ever grow back. I got braces for my teeth, the biting immediately stopped, and my nails grew back to perfect condition in a few months. In dealing with the discomfort of braces, I developed a habit of pushing my tongue against my teeth which completely replaced my nail biting habit. (To be clear, the braces per se didn’t deter me from biting.) I do this all the time now unconsciously. Fortunately it’s imperceptible and doesn’t do any harm.

Farstrider 9y ago
I bit my nails for about 18 years, was not until I saw someone with horrible nails that I decided I needed to stop. I replaced it with taking care of my nails and now I file them more than most people to keep them in great shape and to avoid biting.
- StavrosK 9y ago
  I'm the same way, if they get past a certain length, I start biting because they compulsively annoy me.
  - piyh 9y ago
    I put a little swiss army knife on my keys and having the scissors on me at all times fixed that for me.

fyfy18 9y ago

Has anyone got any tips for how to stop biting nails? This technique sounds like it would work for some habits, but I do this subconciously without realising - usually when I’m deep in though on something else (not when I’m streased).

cnees 9y ago
Someone I know switched to only biting one nail. I switched to biting more gently, not actually biting through the nails. Keeping your nails clean and trimmed may help.
stenl 9y ago
There is a thing you can buy at the pharmacy that looks like transparent nail polish but tastes extremely bitter. Basically makes it disgusting to bite your nails, but is invisible to others. Hard to get off too, so you’ll get a few days bite-free from one application.
ClassyJacket 9y ago
If anyone could help me stop scratching my face, scalp, and arms until I bleed I would be forever grateful. The effect on my life is profound.
- jacobush 9y ago
  Scratch something is else till it "bleeds"? Get something scratch-y. Or as the other here suggested, decide you can scratch only your arms and scalp but not the face and go from there.
- pps 9y ago
  I think that NLP sucks overall, it's mostly a marketing tool and sometimes worse, but there are things supported by science and some techniques for quick interventions are integrated into psychotherapy ("NLPt psychotherapy" if you want to check it). The most down to earth book which you can use to help yourself in this case is "Change Your Mind and Keep The Change" by Steve Andreas. Good luck!
9y ago

SwellJoe 9y ago

When training animals, particularly dogs, it's (I think) pretty well-known that redirecting to positive behaviors is much more effective than punishing unwanted behaviors (so much so that one could say "punishment does not work at all compared to redirecting to desired behaviors" without much exaggeration). i.e. when a dog chews on a sofa cushion, put a dog chew in their mouth or direct them to go get their toy or chew or whatever. When they jump up on people, put them in a sit-stay, then you can praise them for doing a good thing. This is just a human, self-directed, version of that, I think. I'm not saying people are like dogs, but...people are kinda like dogs.

jacobush 9y ago
We sort of have dogs within. We are super sets of dogs. Edit: it must follow we are rather cute within. Dogs are cute!
Ours90 9y ago
I do agree with your statement, but it's the idealistic approach and sometimes not effective at all. A big problem with the dogs (as observed in humans, too) is that if they don't see a leader in you, they are going to take this position over. I've had 4 dogs in my lifetime and I've tried different approaches with all of them, because they all had different characters, but one thing I did with all of them: I was strict and I punished them at times. They are like babies, I don't think you can raise a child without punishing him from time to time; if you don't do so, there can be much more complications which maybe harmful for both parties.
- WhompingWindows 9y ago
  How do you define "punishment" for dog training? In the psychological sense, punishment is going to mean either denial of a positive thing (treats, toys, etc) or use of a negative thing (scolding, physical methods like spraying water or citronella, poking (dog whisperer's method) or straight up violence). To me, this is not the way to train a dog. You can still be a leader by providing their food at set times, by giving them play time and ample walks, and by truly mastering yourself so you do not unnecessarily use physical or verbal abuse on them. To me, I've never had to punish my dogs, all I'll do is say "No" in a particular tone of voice. Other than that, I just reinforce the good behaviors, allow them wiggle-room for breed-specific behaviors, and make sure they have plenty of exercise and a good diet.

YTGRK 9y ago

https://youtu.be/I2l8xkjTUh4 https://youtu.be/I2l8xkjTUh4

billysielu 9y ago

Please replace this link to the New York Times with something without a Paywall.

scarface74 9y ago
On iOS, I just have any NYT site to default to reader view.
m-watson 9y ago
Just open it in private/incognito browser, free and less tracking!

gymshoes 9y ago

I read quickly and didn't think of a white bear. Probably because my focus was to quickly read the article.

k__ 9y ago

Somehow these "try not to think of" memes don't work on me. I'm a slow reader and the "white bear" is still "words" in my mind when I'm finished, I have no image in my head till I try to get one actively.

hiccuphippo 9y ago

The old switcheroo. When I have one song stuck in my head and I want it out, I just start listening to another song.

chrisweekly 9y ago

About 6 years ago I read this terrific book, "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" [1]... Highly recommended! [1] https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0055PGUYU/ https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0055PGUYU/

segmondy 9y ago
I just finished reading this last week. I highly recommend as well. Key take away, understand the habit loop, (cue, response, reward). To change your habit you need to know what the cue is, and watch out for it. When it happens, you need to replace the habit with a difference response that gives the reward. Part of figuring out your cue is looking at People around you, Emotional State, Location, Time, Immediately Preceding Action.
- dmos62 9y ago
  If anyone finds this train of thought interesting, look at literature around Neuro-linguistic programming [0]. As pointed out in the Wikipedia article, this body of work is heavily criticized, and I'll address that, because I think that NLP shouldn't be discarded. The methodicality of the approach outlined in the above comment is somewhat of a central theme in most of NLP, that's what reminded me of NLP. For the purpose of this discussion, I'd sum up NLP as a deep, broad and interesting exploration of the key-take-away from the above comment, that is the trigger-response-reward loop. It's true that there's a lot to criticize in NLP. What stuck out to me especially was the monetization by R. Bandler and his manner of conversing that is somewhere between being excessively boastful and compulsively lying. However, the Wikipedia article says that the body of work that is NLP was discredited scientifically, which I find preposterous. I can easily see some practice advocated by a notable NLP practicioner being discredited, but not the whole, because it is too far-reaching. The area covered by NLP makes it pretty much an umbrella keyword for many, many areas of activity of a handful of people. The most controversial of which is probably their revival, reinterpretation and I'd dare say furthering of our understanding of hypnosis, but that's just one thing, and one that I don't find to be their most important contribution. The basic NLP keywords relevant to this discussion are triggers, mental mapping, anchoring, Meta Model, and then a small host of more advanced concepts that use these building blocks. Their work on the vaguelly named "meta model" alone should be deemed an important contribution, while being minor compared to their work on behavioral therapy. I can't recommend individual books, since I've sprinted through a bunch of them some years back, their quality somewhat varied, and I had to read some of them to find out that they are repackaged older material, but there are definitely gems out there. The principal authors in the field are John Grinder and Richard Bandler. I would stay away from post-2000 books by Bandler, if I recall correctly. I seem to have found them over-monetizing and a bit distasteful. Bandler also has a lot of video content out there, which again is often distasteful in my opinion. To sum up on a positive note, I find the literature and work around NLP to be a diamond in the rough, emphasis on diamond. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming

eclat 9y ago

Replacement can also become a compulsion however. If you get a negative thought you want to stop having, replacing it with another will only make that negative thought more important to your mind, as it will be considered something to be avoided. I recommend doing CBT instead of following the advice of NYT articles.

akashaggarwal7 9y ago

Very nice article. So, how do I stop procrastinating?

Mikho 9y ago

That's really just basic habit loop -- trigger-action-reward -- that one needs to break by replacing action part with something different more useful. Pretty quickly one gets used to a new habit loop structure and the same old trigger now ignites some healthy action to receive the same old reward. E.g. teeth-brushing habit: trigger - wake up, action - brush teeth, reward - freshness mint (or other) taste in your mouth. That's basically why a taste was added at all to a toothpaste -- to create a habit loop. Before that teeth-brushing powder/paste was tasteless and resulted in bad sales. The same habit loop structure is used a lot to change bad habits or to integrate new habits in sports, military, etc. There is a very good book about it by Charles Duhigg: "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" https://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business/dp/081298160X https://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business/dp/081...

jamaicahest 9y ago

Reminds we of https://www.npr.org/2012/02/27/147296743/how-you-can-harness-the-power-of-habit https://www.npr.org/2012/02/27/147296743/how-you-can-harness...